Plugin Alliance - Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor

[Michal Ochedowski]

Hi. Any Cakewalk users with PA Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor not appearing in the Plugins menu? I've had it for a few months and still can't load the VST3 version. It's not available. I can only use VST2. Cakewalk is up to date. Plugin is up to date. 

[bitflipper]

Verify that the vst3 version is in fact installed and in the right place, then rescan.

All vst3 plugins should be in the same place, e.g. c:\program files\common files\vst3. As long as it's there, the scanner should have no problem finding them.

If the file is in the right place, run the scanner with its log enabled (Preferences -> Files -> VST Settings -> Generate Scan Log). After rescanning, open the log (%appdata%\cakewalk\logs\vstscan.log) with Notepad and search for the name of the dll. If the init failed while scanning that plugin, an entry in the log file should indicate why.

[Michal Ochedowski]

Thank you for the help bitflipper. I followed all the steps. The plugin in question was in the correct folder. I opened the log file after scanning. To my surprise the information stated: "VSTSCAN: Previously scanned - NOT a VST plugin".

I have no idea why Cakewalk doesn't classify it as a VST. Other programs don't have any issues with it. I noticed one important thing though - this VST has the longest name among all plugins in that folder. In fact the VST2 in Cakewalk is listed without one letter "Shadow Hills Mastering Compresso". I've never had to alter any names of my plugins in order to have them recognized by the program.  Perhaps Cakewalk has some limitations in that manner. 

Edited November 7, 2022 by Michal Ochedowski

[scook]

Both VST2 and VST3 scan and run OK here. The plug-in installer only puts the "Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor.dll" in the designated VST2 path and "Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor.vst3" in the designated VST3 path. All the other support files go elsewhere.

The problem is not plug-in name length related.

The VST plug-in names used depend on the VSTPlugInNameFormat settng in Cakewalk.ini.

By default, CbB uses a label found in the plug-in dll. For some reason, the last "r" is missing on the label in the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor VST2 dll.

 

If might be a good idea to post the full fully qualified names for the "Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor" VST2 and VST3 plug-is and the scan path as shown in preferences.

 

If the VST3 is scanned as not a plug-in, then something happened when the scanner tried to load the vst3 file that causing the scanner to fail the plug-in.. It could be a bad vst3 file, an activation problem, band/missing support dll or some system failure.

 

There are several ways to try and correct the problem.

A VST reset from Preferences > File > VST Settings with the two log file options mentioned above enabled is the easiest although it can be very time consuming if one has a lot of plug-ins.

In this case, a more targeted approach might be a good idea. To force a scan of the VST3 only:

• move "Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor.vst3" out of the scan path,
•  run a VST scan from Preference > File > VST Settings with both log options enabled,
•  after the scan search the scan log for "Shadow Hills". The only references should be the VST2 and possibly removing the VST3,
•  put "Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor.vst3" back into the VST3 folder,
•  run another VST scan from Preference > File > VST Settings with both log options enabled.

This should pick up the "Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor.vst3", If not there should be a log entry explaining the exclusion.

 

If this fails, uninstall the "Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor" confirming the VST3 is gone, re-install and re-run the scan with the log options enabled.

[Michal Ochedowski]

Great advice scook. I never would've thought about removing the file itself and moving it back into proper folder. Cakewalk finally recognized the "new" VST and now I have both VST2 and VST3 versions available. That was brilliantly simple. 

[IgoRr]

For the future, you have one more option: go upstairs to "Utilities" - the last line is "Cakewalk Plug-in Manager". In the left window, select the line VST3. Scroll in the right window all the plugins to the letter "S", if there is no Shadow Hills, at the bottom left select the option "Show excluded(plugins)", it may turn out that for some reason Cakewalk sent it to this section. If it's there, click on it, and on the bottom left, the "Enable Plug-in" button. This happened to me a couple of times, although I have not found out the reason.

[Michal Ochedowski]

2 minutes ago, IgoRr said:

For the future, you have one more option: go upstairs to "Utilities" - the last line is "Cakewalk Plug-in Manager". In the left window, select the line VST3. Scroll in the right window all the plugins to the letter "S", if there is no Shadow Hills, at the bottom left select the option "Show excluded(plugins)", it may turn out that for some reason Cakewalk sent it to this section. If it's there, click on it, and on the bottom left, the "Enable Plug-in" button. This happened to me a couple of times, although I have not found out the reason.

I remember venturing to that section a very long time ago. I completely forgot how useful it may be. I think back then I was searching for missing Cakewalk instrument or something like that. Thank you. 

[scook]

3 minutes ago, IgoRr said:

For the future, you have one more option: go upstairs to "Utilities" - the last line is "Cakewalk Plug-in Manager". In the left window, select the line VST3. Scroll in the right window all the plugins to the letter "S", if there is no Shadow Hills, at the bottom left select the option "Show excluded(plugins)", it may turn out that for some reason Cakewalk sent it to this section. If it's there, click on it, and on the bottom left, the "Enable Plug-in" button. This happened to me a couple of times, although I have not found out the reason.

Yeah, another old school approach.

These days, I avoid the Plug-In Manager for most things plug-in related except for layout maintenance. Exclude list maintenance is one of the few other functions unique to the Plug-in Manager and as noted can be used to force a rescan. It has also been the source of threads on the forum when user get to aggressive enabling plug-ins.